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US Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is President Donald Trump's new Supreme Court nominee.
- President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.
- Kavanaugh was born and bred in the Washington, DC area and has a long history in conservative circles.
- His journey to the US Supreme Court has been so star-studded, one senator once called him the "Forrest Gump" of Republican
politics .
President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh, 53, to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the US Supreme Court.
"There is no one in America more qualified for this position, and no one more deserving," Trump said at the announcement Monday night, fewer than two weeks after Kennedy said he would end his 30-year career on the bench.
Republicans have praised Kavanaugh, but the Ivy League-educated veteran of George W. Bush's administration has a tough confirmation process ahead of him. Republicans' 51-49 hold on the Senate puts Kavanaugh in a precarious spot.
Top Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin once called Kavanaugh the "Forrest Gump of Republican politics", and has spoken out since his nomination with concerns about how he could affect proceedings in the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's actions as obstruction of justice. And other liberals are worried about what Kavanaugh could do to abortion rights.
As Kavanaugh heads to Capitol Hill to begin the confirmation proceedings, here's a look at how the Washington, DC born-and-bred conservative rose to the court's most pivotal nomination in decades: